Lumber-drier



2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. W. P-IVBR. LUMBER DRIER.

(No Model.)

No. 487,965. Patented Dec. 13, 1892.

ATTORNEYS.

1HE n'onms PETERS co., PHaTauTHO., wAsNms-ron. n. c.

(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

J. W. PIVER.

n LUMBBR D'RIBR. No. 487,965. Y Patented Dec. 13, 1892.

"iT-T3@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN WV. PIVER, OF AMERICUS, GEORGIA.

LuMBER-DRIER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,965, dated December 13, 1892. Application filed August 14, 1891l Serial No. 402,685;- (No model.)

To all whom .it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN W. PIVER, of Americus, in the county of Sumter and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lumber-Driers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in lumber-drers; and it consists in certain features of construction and novel combinations of 1 0 parts, as will be hereinafter described, and

pointed outin the claims.

Inthe drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are elevav tions of the opposite sides of the apparatus. Fig.`3 isa horizontal sectional view. Fig. 4 I5 liis acrossfsectional'view, and Fig. 5 shows the lumber-support mounted on a truck.

In carrying out my invention I provide a house A, closed at its ends B B and side C and having its side D formed with a doorway- 2o opening d, extending from end to end of the house, as shown. Guides E F are provided above'and below the opening d to receive the sliding door G, which is preferably made in two sections, each having rollers g to run 011 z 5 the rail H, provided at the'base ot the doorway. These door-sections combined equal one-half of the length of the house, and the latter is divided centrally between its ends by a partition I, extending from the iioor J to 3o the ceiling j andl forming the house into the two drying'rooms or compartments A A2, as shown. Below the floor J the house is closed in o n all sides and is formed to provide an air space or chamber K, extending uninterruptedly through the length and breadth of the house. The doors G, it will be seen, are constructed of such size as to close the doorway to one of the rooms or compartments A A2 and leave the entrance to the other room 4o unobstructed. The purpose of this is to enable one compartment to be emptied and reilled while the lumber in the other is being dried, so that at all times atleast one-half of the house may be utilized actively in the operation of drying.

Before passing to a description ofthe means for heating and conducting the air I will describe 'the manner of piling the lumber and the improved means for supporting the same.

5o These include a side support L, inclined to the vertical and sloping back toward its upin Fig. 4, the lower rear edge of one block 6o abutting the high front end of the next block. Y

In practice I provide three rows of these blocks in each drying-room and arrange these blocks and rows as clearly shown in Fig. 3, one row being at the center of the room and the others at short distances from the ends of the room, the blocks of the several rows being supported upon pieces of scantling or similar timber.

In piling the lumber the first plank is 7o placed edgewise on the base-support next the side support, and rests sidewise against the side support, and the succeeding boards are piled edgewise, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, to the ceiling. Several strips or cleats 1 are 75 placed crosswise and in front of the first row of planks, another row of planks built up as shown, and so on until the room is filled, as will be understood from Fig. 4. By thisI construction I am able to pile the boards on edge without the use of racks having separate seats for each row of boards and without .requiring the boards to be set endwise into the pile.

An especial advantage resulting from piling 8 5 the lumber edgewise on an incline, as shown,

is that I thereby combine the advantages of piling lumber vertically edgewise and horizontarly latwise, as theadvantages of piling it edgewise are in no wise impaired, and I am 9o able to utilize the weight of .the boards to clamp or press the boards flatwise against each other to hold them out in proper shape so that the lumber will be dried in the desired flat condition, as the boards rest upon each other both edgewise and fiatwise and are so dried straight at all sides and edges. It will be also understood that if a board be put in the pile Warped either transversely or longitudinally the weight and pressure of the boards piled upon and against it Will bring it back straight on all sides and edges and hold IOO it to such shape until the drying is completed; but by the construction as shown I am able to pile the lumber edgewise and to set it side- Wise into and'out of the pile, so that one man can readily and quickly pile the lumber edge- Wise into or remove it from the drying-room, and When iilled the doors may be adjusted to close such compartment and the other room or compartment `be iilled or emptied, as required.

The roof of the house A pitches down toward the side opposite the doorway and extends at 2 past such side of the house and forms a shed over the furnace N, .which has its fire-box N at one end of the house, and its flue or passage N2 extends to the opposite end of the house, Where it communicates with the uptake or chimney N3. Above the furnace and extending from end to end therethereof I form an air-heating chamber O, preferably composed of semicylindrical terra-cotta sections, the bottom sections O being curved on a smaller are than the upper ones to provide the intermediate air-space, as shown.

In practice the furnace is built to arrange the top of the air-chamber O flush with or slightly below the ground-surface, and earth is placed over the top of the chamber to retain the heat. Near the ends of the airchamber O, I provide air-inlets O2, and at or and the other P2 leading up into the room A2,

caps or valves p p2 being provided to close such branches or ports P P2, as may be desired. In the operation of this construction air enters the heating-chamber at O and is heated therein and passes through pipe or passage P and may be discharged from branch P or P2, as may be desired. Thus to dry lumber in room A the cap p should be removed and cap p2 applied to its pipe P2, so that all the heat Would be directed into the room A.

To 'provide for instituting and maintaining the circulation of air, I shut off all air supply to the combustion-chamber of the furnace except a connection with the air-chamber K, which connection is preferably effected by means of tube or flue K,as shown, such tube opening atrone end into the air-space K and at the other end into the furnace, as Will be understood from Figs. 3 and 4t. Openings a a2 are formed through the door of rooms A A2 and may be closed by caps provided for such purpose, as shown. Thus if lumber is being dried in one of the compartments the openings a. or a2 of such compartment are left unobstructed, so that the natural draft of the furnace Will draw air out of such compartment and so produce the circulation desirable to insure the passage of the hot air from the air-chamber into the compartment It Will also be understood that the apparatus may be used for drying fruit, bricks, and the like by properly adapting the drying-house for such purposes.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An improved lumber-support consisting of a side support inclined to the vertical and a base-support having its upper or bearing surface inclined to the horizontal and at approximately right angle to the inclined side support, all substantially as set forth.

2. In a lumber-drier, the lumber-support herein described consisting of the side support inclined to the vertical and the base-support having its bearing-surface inclined to the horizontal and at approximately a right angle to the side support and formed of a series of step-like block-sections, substantially as set forth.

3. In an apparatus substantially as described, the house having a'drying-room provided With a iioor and with an inclined side support for lumber and With a base-support including a plurality of series of blocks having their upper surfaces inclined to the horizontal and strips of timber on which the series of blocks rest, all substantially as set forth.

4. In a lumber-drier, a lumber-support consisting of a side support inclined to the vertical and the series of step-like blocks eX- tended from said side support, the upper bearing-surfaces of the several said blocks being formed in parallel planes and at approximately a right angle tothe side support, substantially as set forth.

5. The improved apparatus, substantially as described, comprising the house having a drying room or compartment, a heater for said compartment, and a lumber-support arranged in said compartment and composed of a side support inclined to the vertical, and Ia base-support formed of a series of step-like blocks havingtheir upper or bearing surfaces inclined to the horizontal and arranged at approximately a right angle to the side support, all substantially as described, whereby lumber may be piled on said support in an edge- Wise-inclined position, for the purposes set forth.

JOHN WV. PIVER.

Witnesses: i

F. G. OLVER, T. H. TINsLEY.

KOU 

